Playwright and actress Evelina Fernández, a founding member of Los Angeles’ Latino Theater Company, was still in college when she was cast in the original Zoot Suit. “I’m not being overly dramatic when I say, ‘It changed my life,’” she said. “It set me on the path of making theatre my life’s work.” It also put Los Angeles—and the rest of the country—on notice that an audience in the Latino community and beyond was ready and eager to hear Latino stories. “It was the first time Chicanos were on the main stage at a regional theatre, and it was the first time Latinos attended the theatre in huge numbers,” she recalled. “We didn’t realize it at first, but it soon became apparent that we were making history in the American theatre, and that the play’s truths about racism and discrimination suffered by Mexican-Americans in the U.S. struck a full emotional and political chord in our community.”

This was by design. Center Theatre Group Founding Artistic Director Gordon Davidson had asked Valdez to consider writing a play that would reflect the history of Los Angeles. Valdez was already intrigued by the story of the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder case and the zoot suit riots, as well as by a pachuco character. In 1977, Davidson commissioned Zoot Suit for the Taper. “Apparent in the 1940s and obvious by the 1970s, the dynamic, growing multicultural milieu of Los Angeles was the undeniable wave of the future,” said Valdez. “Gordon had the wisdom and prescience to see it coming. Instead of resisting or ignoring change, he generously gave the voices of the new American theatre an opportunity to speak for themselves.”

And America, and especially Los Angeles, listened. Close to half a million people saw Zoot Suit in Los Angeles over the course of a year—first in its sold-out run at the Taper and then at the Aquarius Theater in Hollywood before it headed to Broadway. Valdez estimated that approximately half of those in attendance in L.A. were new theatregoers. “I’ve always believed that theatre is a creator of community and that community is a real creator of theatre,” he said.

That’s just one reason why he’s excited to be bringing Zoot Suit back to the Taper for its first Los Angeles revival in honor of Center Theatre Group’s 50TH Anniversary. For as much progress as has been made over the past few decades, the play is “unfortunately as relevant as ever,” he said. Valdez is also eager to introduce Zoot Suit to a new generation of Angelenos—many of whom will be returning with their parents and grandparents, who saw the show the first time around. www.centertheatregroup.org Image: scribd.com

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